UpdateBP CEO to step away from day-to-day spill ops - report

19 June 2010 00:16[Source: ICIS news]

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HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Shares of beleaguered oil giant BP rose slightly on the New York Stock Exchange after news agencies reported on Friday that chief executive Tony Hayward would move away from the daily management of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill recovery.

BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said ?xml:namespace>Hayward would hand over the operation to managing director Robert Dudley, according toSky News.

Shares of BP rose five cents to $31.76 on Friday.

Members of the US House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday grilled Hayward over the company’s safety decisions in connection with the explosion that sunk the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig, which in turn led to the massive oil spill. Lawmakers accused Hayward of “stonewalling” the panel, according to news accounts.

Svanberg said some of Hayward’s comments had “upset people”, according to Sky News.

Moody’s on Friday cut its ratings for BP by several notches, citing the company’s continued failure to bring the US Gulf coast oil spill under control amid mounting costs and claims for damages.

The credit ratings agency - which had already downgraded BP on 3 June - said all of its BP ratings remained on review for possible further downgrades.

The leak was estimated at 35,000-60,000 bbl/day.

Coast Guard admiral Thad Allen said 25,000 barrels were recovered during a 24-hour period on Thursday. He said siphoning capacity would increase to 53,000 bbl/day by the end of June and that amount would jump to 60,000-80,000 bbl/day in mid-July.

Oil began spewing from the bottom of the Gulf after a 20 April explosion sank the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon offshore rig.